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Bloomberg Announces Launch of New York City Media Lab Website

NEW YORK — Mayor Bloomberg made a surprise appearance at the Wired Business Conference, announcing the launch of the New York City Media Lab’s website: www.nycmedialab.org. Modeled after innovation centers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford, the project represents the first time a city has partnered with academia and industry for technology research and development. The center will be based in downtown Brooklyn at NYU’s Polytechnic campus.

Bloomberg has been on the tech circuit for a while promoting New York City as “the intellectual capital of the world,” at the helm of the IT revolution. He showed up at the Tech Crunch conference preaching a similar gospel last month. He’s fond of play-hating Silicon Valley, “Not to say there’s anything wrong with Silicon Valley – there are nice people there,” he said, adding that he once dated a girl from there who’s probably a grandmother now. But it’s no New York.

We don’t spend our money giving companies tax breaks to come here or to stay here. We spend money making New York a better place.

According to Bloomberg, New York itself is enough of a draw for innovators. “We don’t spend our money giving companies tax breaks to come here or to stay here. We spend money making New York a better place.” New York may not be a cheap option for start-up tech companies, but it has fashion, food and culture. Also, it’s edgy. “We invest in culture, in public schools, and in keeping the city edgy in terms of young people wanting to come here,” said Bloomberg.

“Media labs bring together the best and the brightest,” he told the crowd — which is why New York is the ideal place for such a center. “People that come here don’t come here because they’re lazy or because they get caught up in failure,” he declared. “If you want to come and put your feet up this is not the place to come!”